Andromeda

 

"Andromeda"

Acrylic on canvas, 16"x20" 

Original fine art by Vancouver, Washington based artist Jamie Lutz Carroll. Buy acrylic paintings, ink and gouache illustrations, limited edition archival prints, and custom and commissioned artwork.

That Summer Night That Wasn't

 

"That Summer Night That Wasn't"

Acrylic on canvas, 20"x16" 

 Original fine art by Vancouver, Washington based artist Jamie Lutz Carroll. Buy acrylic paintings, ink and gouache illustrations, limited edition archival prints, and custom and commissioned artwork.

Time For Takeoff

"Time For Takeoff"

Acrylic on stretched canvas, 12"x12"

Inspired by a photo of my sister on her wedding day.

 Original fine art by Vancouver, Washington based artist Jamie Lutz Carroll. Buy acrylic paintings, ink and gouache illustrations, limited edition archival prints, and custom and commissioned artwork.

Sometimes a Subject

The vast majority of my paintings come from photographs. Some old, some new, some recognizably copied, some just the spark of an idea. None from photographs I've taken because if there's one thing I'm not, it's a photographer. I do however have a friend who is a photographer and we just collaborated on our second shoot! And by "collaborated" I mean I pretend to be a model and try not to laugh and feel self-conscious while he points lights and cameras at me. ;-)

Here's a glimpse of what we did last week. (See more on Daniel Wickwire's website here. Don't forget to look at his other albums while you're there!)  

This one is my favorite of the bunch! It was unintentionally blurry, but we both loved the effect made by being out of focus. The haziness of the figure makes it seem like she's maybe not really there or a captured memory somehow caught on film. I'm using some of the shots as fodder for paintings and there's a good chance you'll see this one on canvas soon.

I put these images together because I thought it was interesting how a miniscule difference in angle made such a huge difference in the finished shot. I love the sort of angry/creepy vibe of the straight-on stare in the one on the left. And really, really love the sense of mystery from the shadowed eyes in the one on the right. 

 And here's what was going on in between shots... The road was surprisingly busy late at night and I kept having to run to the side to avoid becoming one with a moving vehicle, look nonchalant so no one would stop and try to "help" me, then run back to the middle and quickly get back into character until another car came. Dan was up on an overpass out of sight so to passers-by I just looked like a crazy woman out for a stroll in her nightgown with no shoes. It was actually pretty damn funny!











(Low resolution images used to protect copyright. All images copyright of Daniel Wickwire. Used with permission.)

Original fine art by Vancouver, Washington based artist Jamie Lutz Carroll. Buy acrylic paintings, ink and gouache illustrations, limited edition archival prints, and custom and commissioned artwork.

The Passenger

 "The Passenger"

Acrylic on velveteen matte board, 12x9

I have always loved the style of pastel portraiture that had a relatively brief popularity in the middle of the 20th century. I found a few pieces of scrap matte board with a velvet-like finish and for some reason got the notion that painting on that might result in the sort of soft, slightly abstracted finish of pastels. I used colors popular in that era to add to the mid-century feel. Her expression and body positioning make me think of long travels by train; staring out the window at quickly-passing countryside, thoughts spinning nearly as fast as the train wheels. Another fun experiment that turned out well!

Original fine art by Vancouver, Washington based artist Jamie Lutz Carroll. Buy acrylic paintings, ink and gouache illustrations, limited edition archival prints, and custom and commissioned artwork.

New Sketch... Can't Wait to Paint!

We are moving so I've pretty much had to trade my painting time for packing time lately. It's driving me absolutely bonkers! I did this sketch last night and really like the direction it's going in so someday very soon (knock on wood!) it will be painted. I can't wait - I'm done with this moving nonsense!

Original fine art by Vancouver, Washington based artist Jamie Lutz Carroll. Buy acrylic paintings, ink and gouache illustrations, limited edition archival prints, and custom and commissioned artwork.

Girl With Yellow Flowers

 

 "Girl With Yellow Flowers"

12x12, acrylic on wood panel

Original fine art by Vancouver, Washington based artist Jamie Lutz Carroll. Buy acrylic paintings, ink and gouache illustrations, limited edition archival prints, and custom and commissioned artwork.

Dream of Circe

"Dream of Circe"

20x16, acrylic on canvas

I got a book about nude art in Victorian times at the library. For being such prudes they sure had a lot of nudes in art, and had a particular fondness for naked Greek goddesses! This painting was inspired by the collection held in that book. Circe is the goddess of magic who, it is said, turned men into swine. Or perhaps, as Victorian poet Augusta Webster speculated, merely removed the disguise which made them seem human in the first place.

Original fine art by Vancouver, Washington based artist Jamie Lutz Carroll. Buy acrylic paintings, ink and gouache illustrations, limited edition archival prints, and custom and commissioned artwork.

Sydney

"Sydney"

Acrylic on canvas, 28"x22"

Original fine art by Vancouver, Washington based artist Jamie Lutz Carroll. Buy acrylic paintings, ink and gouache illustrations, limited edition archival prints, and custom and commissioned artwork.

Susy

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 "Susy" This is a variation on a painting I did a few years ago of a young black woman during the civil rights movement. There is something about the hope and sense of resolve in this image that captivates me and I am drawn to paint her in different ways, each time a bit different. This version is in my 6x6 Series, a group of portraits painted on six inch square oak boards. All are available for only $40 each in my Etsy shop.

Good Morning - Redux

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 "Good Morning" was originally painted about a year ago. Back then, I really liked her and even said she was one of my favorites. But then she hung in my hallway for months and every time I walked by I liked her less. I guess that's the trouble with having your own work decorating your house - you start nit-picking and doing the coulda-shoulda-woulda thing. (Conversely, the longer I have the work of other artists around the more I love it!) One night I just grabbed her down from the wall and started painting over her. This version is so much more dynamic than the first and I like her again! For now anyway...

And the original:

Elsey

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 "Elsey" is the fourth in the 6x6 series, which will have a total of six paintings when complete. Like the rest, she is painted on a 6" square piece of oak board and will be sold for only $40 in my Etsy shop.

Cate

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The next edition in the 6x6 series is Cate. I believe I mentioned it in an earlier post but I'll throw it out there again... When I decided to embark on this series of small paintings I had to make a decision about composition: simply paint smaller versions of my typical work, or crop the faces in tight. I chose to paint the faces nearly the same size as I usually do and severely crop all additional information. It's interesting to me to see how they're coming together and how even though the viewer has nothing to go on, the expressions are able to tell so much of the story of the piece.

All pieces from the 6x6 series are six inches square and painted on untreated oak board. They are being sold in my Etsy shop for only $40 each.

Bele

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 "Bele" is in my new 6x6 series; all paintings done on 6"x6" oak board. I really love how the slightly thinned paints are showing off the wood grain! This is a beautiful Ndebele woman from South Africa.

Each piece in the 6x6 series will be listed in my Etsy shop for only $40!

Patti

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 "Patti" A few weeks ago I did a small 6x6 painting for a show featuring only work of that size. I found it to be a fun challenge to work so small and chose to treat it more as a "cropped image" than to just paint a smaller composition. I decided to do a series of these small works and quickly got my hands on eight more 6x6 boards. Now instead of literally watching paint dry on my larger pieces, I am filling that time with these little ladies. As I finish each one in the series I will post them here and put them on Etsy for only $40! Within minutes of listing "Patti" she was featured in a Treasury List!

As I See It

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 "As I See It" I would have to call this an illustration rather than a painting, although it does involve paint. I drew and shaded this woman in graphite on heavyweight cold-press paper. After spraying the drawing with a fixative, I painted it with very diluted acrylic paint in muted tones so all the shading would show through. Then I went back through with the graphite to add back in some of the dark shadows lost in the paint. The finished look makes me think of an old-fashioned colorized photograph. I love it when experiments turn out!

The smaller picture below shows it mounted and framed.

Eugenia

"Eugenia" I picked up a book at a thrift store the other day called "The Family of Woman". It's a collection of black and white photographs from around the world showing everyday women doing everyday things. This young woman from Nigeria had that "Please paint me!" look in her eyes. This piece is one of the smallest I've ever made, measuring only 6" square. It was done specifically to donate to the "6x6 Show", a fundraiser for Oregon Arts Alliance. I found the small size to be pretty fun! Now I'm looking around the house for more little blocks of wood...

Just One More Chapter

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"Just One More Chapter" It's been over a month since my last post. Blame the magic that is Christmas.  We spent the week after Christmas at the Oregon coast. Know what happens there at the end of December? Absolutely nothing. Unless you count rain, wind, and hail. We all got a lot of reading done that week; including my daughter who was so engrossed in her book she didn't even notice me sketching her!

Set Apart For An Instant

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 "Set Apart For An Instant" If I could choose a super power it would be Invisibility. I am a rather socially awkward person and am much more comfortable observing over participating. A lifetime of observation has left me with some favorite moments. Not necessarily individual moments (though there are some great ones!), but moments we share without knowing. We are all guilty of masking our true feelings; especially, it seems, from those we care about most. This painting captures that moment of true emotion just before the smile-for-the-world covers it up.

Odette

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 Here she is... the completed "Odette". (See the making of her here.) To finish her off I put a glaze of Burnt Umber over the whole thing in a very haphazard fashion. This helped even out and tone down the colors and gave it a richer, almost "antiqued", feel. You can't see it in this picture but the edges of the canvas are beveled and painted a dark brown-black that has been feathered into the painting. The effect is like torn paper edges, as if the portrait was taken from a larger picture or torn from an old scrapbook. When I was done with her I stood back and asked aloud, "So, what's your name?" Odette was the name that popped in my head so I took that as her answer.